Area schools honored for efforts to promote sustainability

A number of area colleges and universities have been acknowledged for green policies on The Princeton Review’s 2014 Guide to 322 Green Colleges.

The annual list, created in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), best known for developing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard for green building certification, surveyed institutions on environmentally related policies, practices and academic offerings.

Local colleges and universities named to the list included: Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY College at Geneseo and the University of Rochester.

For RIT, this year’s inclusion was the fourth consecutive year on the list.

“We strive to lead by example, as shown by our newly LEED Platinum certified Golisano Institute for Sustainability,” said Enid Cardinal, senior sustainability advisor to the president at RIT. “Here at RIT, we are committed as a university to sustainability through our research, academics and operations.”

To compile the list, Princeton Review surveyed administrators about their institution’s sustainability-related policies, practices and programs. The ratings were scaled from 60 to 99, and the 322 schools in this year’s guide received scores of 83 or greater.